First night in Paris

Amazingly our hotel has free internet so I can write something more than a few sentances (though, to tell the truth, there's not a ton to report). Mom and I had some difficulty finding each other but since I figured we were both in good health I didn't get too worried. Mom was 'freaking out' but, obviously, we found each other. So, that day (yesterday) we went to an English restaurant where we had hot pies for dinner and hot pudding for dessert. Today we went for a walk in Regents Park and I showed mom where I stayed for the first two weeks of the trip. After that we walked around near Piccadily Circus and got lunch to go. After that we got on the Chunnel (which nearly killed my ears) and voila! We were in Paris. We have so far run into many nice French people and only one slightly rude French person, but I feel like they must get so tired of tourists, it's understandable.
It's strange suddenly being in France. The tubes... erm, Metro, I guess, are/is similar enough to those in London that I can figure it out but different enough that it's a bit confusing. It's cool to be surrounded by French but also pretty humbling. Basically I realized I can't speak French. Tant pis. (Too bad). Anyway, I think if I lived here for a while I could pick it up okay but just being here for a week I don't really see that happening... we'll see. It's odd, before this I felt like I knew more French but now I find myself wanting to respond to Mom and others in Japanese. Sadly, in Europe, there aren't a whole lot of Japanese speakers besides the Japanese tourists who I don't really approach. That would be a bit weird to say the least.
Well, I think that's all I'll write for now. I feel like I'm on a boat and I haven't even been on a boat today... I think I should go to sleep.

to be brief

Hello, internet access has been and probably will continue to be very limited now. Things are going well. Sad to leave but looking forward to home/France. :)

Made it back

Hello all, I don't have much time at all. Just so you know I made it back to London just fine and enjoyed a thrilling performance of Nicholas Nickleby today. It was so good, it made me so happy-sad! :)

Happy in Holland

Hello ho hum Holland!!! I love Holland. Can I just write that for this post? No, I think Mom might get a bit angry if that was all I wrote. Ok, well, Utrecht is wonderful. For those who don't know, I'm spending the weekend with my friend Anja Srienc. Today she, Tessa and I went around Utrecht mainly shopping and looking at Cathedrals. I couldn't resist buying a children's book (in Dutch, of course). It's one of the 'Jip and Jannika' books. Anyway, it's adorable and who knows, maybe I'll be able to read it someday. I was actually thinking that if I do get into the international school system Holland would be a wonderful place to teach. Utrecht is so adorable, too. The buildings are, of course, all old and cute. The canals are lovely and there are flower shops on the street even though it's January. The weather is warm compared to Minnesota (especially right now!), though it rains more than it does in London.
Yesterday we went to Amsterdam and that was really fun as well. We walked through the red light district, went to the Van Gogh museum, and had some Dutch fries with mayonaise. They were delicious. Oh, also, for Saturday night and yesterday Kelsey Dullinger was here too because she's studying in London for the term (actually not too far from where our next hotel will be). So, Saturday night Kelsey and I had a great time riding into town on the back of Marje and Anja's bikes. We then went to a church that had been converted into a bar after which we went to two clubs. The first one was called 'Stairway to Heaven' and they played rock music. There were some very interesting people head banging on stage so we only stayed there for half an hour or so. Then we went to another club where they were playing techno. I have to say, the Dutch aren't the craziest dancers. The two step seemed to be the dance of choice. We actually talked to a group of Dutch guys. One of them was really annoying but for the most part they were really nice and not creepy at all. I've actually found people in the Netherlands to be really nice and they all speak English really well which helps, of course. It will be interesting to see how France is.
Well, I think it's time to sign off for now. I hope you are all well! xoxo

Going off

Hello all. Tomorrow we head to Bath and Bristol and I won't have internet for a while so I thought I'd write a little post. Things are still continuing well. Today I went to the British Library and saw an original draft of one of Wordsworth's poems! I was really excited about that. Also, saw a fair amount of Old and Middle English original texts. Also, a draft of a poem by Sylvia Plath which was really interesting.
Before the British Library we toured the Globe Theatre (the one that was made to look like Shakespeare's Globe Theatre). It was really cool. Too bad they don't perform in January. On Sunday I went to mass at Westminster Abbey with a few friends. It was lovely. The choir was really wonderful. After Westminster I actually met Elis at Piccadilly Circus (which is not a circus, but, in fact, a roundabout [or as Heather would say, a 'circly dirkely']) Anyway, Elis and I went to the Crispy Duck in China Town for lunch. I had duck. After that we got some dessert at a little cafe and did a little shopping. It was great to see Elis! Funny, you think that seeing a good friend in another country would be really weird or spectacular but it's just like seeing them at home, really.
So, besides running around London with one of my SBF's I've been getting to know the tubes and striking out on my own more often. I walked across a really nice footbridge today that went right up to St. Paul's. It's still pretty overwhelming. We're doing so much. Before I know it I'll be in Holland!

Wo ai Chinese bakeries

Today my friend Camryn and I went to a Chinese bakery and had a lovely pecan roll and an egg yolk something or other that looked like a dumpling. No one in that restaurant was speaking English. Loved it.

Also saw St. Paul's Cathedral but actually liked Westminster Abbey better except for the view from the top of St. Paul's was unbeatable.

Tonight we saw 'The Seagull' and it was not the best. Also, it has a depressing ending and left no one in a good mood afterwards.

So, we remember the day for the bakery. Tai hao le!!!

Tubes, Double Deckers and the Dodgy End of Town

Yesterday was fantastic. My friend Mark and I got completely lost in London. After spending time with the class at the Tower of London we tried to go to the British Museum with some friends, however they got a little confused on the tubes and we ended up nowhere near where we were supposed to be. Consequently Mark said he was just going to keep walking around in this neighborhood we had ended up in and so I decided to go on the adventure too. We walked around for a while, had some coffee, and then jumped on a double decker bus. We figured we would see something we recognized soon but things just kept looking more and more dodgy. Finally we got off, crossed the street and took a bus going the opposite way. We ended up near Liverpool Street Station and took the tubes from there back to Regents College where we told everyone we had been having tea with the queen.

Besides tea with the queen we've been to Westminster Abbey(I saw my good friend Mr. Chaucer and Samuel Johnson!) , the Tower of London and four shows so far(King Lear, Women of Troy, Avenue Q and Glengary Glenn Ross). It's been terrific and I'm looking forward to the rest of it!

Alive and well, thank you

Hello all! I am in London and doing fine. It's about time for me to go to bed so this will be short. Dad, I saw Big Ben! Sorry I haven't written sooner it's been incredibly busy and there aren't very many computers here. We've seen a lot but I haven't been able to take pictures since my camera's batteries went flat. Ummm... saw Sir Ian tonight but felt rather bad about waiting at the stage door. He's not really a young guy and he looked tired. It was a long performance and I'm pretty sure he just wanted to stay home. Besides that I've walked all over the city, (jet-lagged, mind you), played DDR (also while jet-lagged) and have decided that if I lived here I would pick up the accent fairly quickly. It's quaint. Anyway, I've honestly been too tired to have any incredible stories yet. Oh- I was almost puked on tonight but a few of my classmates shielded me (by chance, not choice). That was rather yucky. Well, goodnight! xoxo

Holland

For any curious people out there, I will be traveling to Holland to visit Anja for my free weekend in January. I'm so excited!